MILAN — Italy’s leather industry is anticipated to report an increase in turnover of about 7.3 percent in 2022 to 4.5 billion euros, boosted by a 5 to 7 percent increase in sales to the interiors segment, in line with preliminary estimates by UNIC, Italy’s Tanners’ Association.

In a document sent to WWD on Tuesday, UNIC said exports of Italian-made leathers to the U.S. rose by 2 percent in 2022 in comparison with 2021, while exports to France led gains, rising 33 percent last yr, followed by Spain, up 25 percent, and Portugal, up 20 percent. Exports to the U.S. were still down 4 percent in comparison with pre-COVID-19 2019 levels. Production volumes of Italian leather fell by 2.6 percent in 2022, the document said. The association will publish full-year results at the top of May.

In an interview with WWD on Tuesday, Fulvia Bacchi, chief executive officer of the Lineapelle leather trade show and general manager of UNIC, explained that a big a part of production (70 percent) is generally intended for the style industry, while the rest is represented by furniture and residential and transport including yachts, cars and airplanes. Italy’s key markets on this sector include European Union countries, U.S., China and the Middle East. 

“For just a few years now, now we have been organizing meetings, workshops, study tours with essential groups of architects within the U.S., Korea, China. As UNIC & Lineapelle Group, we are actually way more engaged within the enhancement of this market sector; it’s a strategic asset for ‘Made in Italy,’” Bacchi said, adding that though the boom in the house furnishing sector experienced during COVID-19 is stabilizing, “we foresee promising prospects for the long run.”

UNIC said that in 2023, corporations investing in quality, cost efficiency, customer focus, sustainability and product innovation will face market headwinds with ease, while there are still a major variety of players affected by a failure to satisfy modern demands.

Its technique to boost its prowess within the interiors and residential sector also involves special projects, Bacchi said. On the September edition of the fair, Lineapelle organizers will unveil Leather Duets, a cross-industry initiative during which five Made in Italy finished leather firms will team up with manufacturers of interior design to present an installation connected to a theme linked with five color trends.

Leather Duets will likely be digitalized and exported in video format and showcased at each the Recent York and London editions of Lineapelle.

“With this concept, Lineapelle goals to emphasise the opportunities of application development of leather for furniture, increasing the attractiveness of its event also to an audience of architects, designers and, more generally, towards operators in the inside design sector,” the fair organizers stated.

Continued growth in constructing construction and rising disposable income levels in lots of countries are amongst the important thing drivers this yr for the interiors sector, along with an increased deal with revolutionary design, modern technologies and sustainability, Bacchi said.

Overall, the 2022 Bain-Altagamma Design Market Monitor said within the near term, corporations would “double down on contract business to interact in 360-degree furnishing projects for living, industrial and dealing spaces, nurturing the premium-ization wave.”

Firms that presented on the 61st edition of Salone del Mobile here echoed this, as the true estate market amps up construction in secondary cities like China’s Guangzhou and Shenzhen and U.S. cities like Austin, Texas; and Miami.

During Milan’s Design Week in April, Lineapelle presented a series of leather modular partitions in 25 different colours, inspired by Venetian Renaissance and Baroque paintings. Named “Nabucco,” the exhibit featured modular partitions geared toward positioning Made in Italy leather amongst architects and interior designers, displayed at Spazio Lineapelle, Lineapelle’s showroom and Milan hub in the center of the historic 5Vie neighborhood.

The 102nd edition of Lineapelle will happen Sept. 19 to 21 at Milan’s Fiera Milano Rho tradegrounds.